This place was already several li outside the small city, an uninhabited wilderness.
There were only two people here: Han Yi and Yufu.
When Yufu spoke, the person he addressed was naturally Han Yi.
When a mighty expert asked a question, how could anyone dare not answer?
Han Yi's scalp instantly went numb.
Yet his life was on the line, and he dared not disobey in the slightest. With no other choice, he flew closer, touched down on the ground, lowered his head, and bowed deeply. "Greetings, Senior?"
Unexpectedly, Yufu did not buy this routine at all.
Frowning, he asked once more, "Whence do you come?"
Han Yi's heart hammered frantically, his head feeling as though it might burst.
Evidently, his evasion had already provoked the other's displeasure!
As the saying went, trouble should never pass three strikes. If his next answer still failed to satisfy him, he feared his head would be severed from his neck on the spot!
Yet he had followed the resonance of fortune in his heart the entire way, coming here in search of his own opportunity.
How could he speak of such a matter to another?
Though this senior's cultivation before him was unfathomably deep, he might not necessarily be above coveting his Heavenly Fortune Scripture.
If he told the truth, he would likely fail to escape the fate of having his soul searched and seized.
It seemed that no matter what he did, it was a dead end!
Han Yi's mind raced wildly, and in an instant, he devised an ambiguous response.
Seeing that the elder's expression seemed to grow slightly impatient, Han Yi steeled his heart and could only brace himself to speak: "Junior came in pursuit of an object."
"Following its traces, I pursued it across tens of thousands of li. Yet upon arriving here, I lost its scent and could find it no longer."
Then he kept his head lowered, awaiting whatever fate had in store for him.
To his surprise, this eccentric powerhouse did not fault him.
After a long silence, his tone grew somewhat dazed as he said, "So you have lost something as well?"
"As well?"
Hearing that word, Han Yi instantly perceived a glimmer of hope and hurriedly nodded. "Precisely so. This item is exceedingly important to me, which is why I traversed countless mountains and rivers, determined to retrieve it. Alas, Heaven did not grant my wish..."
Old Man Yufu's tone ceased to be cold.
Looking at Han Yi, he nodded in agreement. "Precious things must be kept safe. Once lost, trying to find them again is truly troublesome."
"I do not know how long I have been searching, yet even now, I have not found it."
Naturally, Han Yi did not dare press further to ask what Old Man Yufu had lost.
Seeing that he had temporarily preserved his own little life, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
Not daring to speak recklessly, he merely said, "Senior's words are wise."
Afterward, he kept his head bowed in silence, thinking no more about any opportunity, praying only that Old Man Yufu would leave quickly.
However, something that made his heart stop occurred once again.
At that moment, he suddenly heard the other say, "Move not!"
Han Yi's body froze violently.
Believing that he was ultimately doomed to fall to the other's deadly hands, countless scenes from his past flashed through his mind in that split second.
There was the ecstasy when, upon first entering the Qi Condensation stage, he discovered the Heavenly Fortune Scripture in an ancient ruin.
There was the agony when, because of cultivating this scripture, he suffered fortune backlash and failed Foundation Establishment several times.
And there was the high-spirited pride when he narrowly escaped with his life from the exotic beast pocket world, returned to achieve Foundation Establishment in a single day, and felt that the vast world was his to roam as he pleased.
...
"Am I... about to die?"
Han Yi thought to himself.
Just as despair consumed him entirely, Old Man Yufu frowned and remarked, "No wonder you couldn't find your thing. Turns out someone was watching you?"
With a casual, light wave of his hand, he seemed to sever something.
Instead of meeting death, Han Yi felt a sudden relief wash over his heart.
It felt as though a shackle that had bound him for so long had abruptly vanished.
"Being watched? What does that mean?"
Han Yi was bewildered at first, but then horror seized him.
"I was being monitored too?"
"No wonder I always felt as though nothing ever went smoothly. So my every move was under someone else's control?"
Recalling how he had spent all his days in the small city monitoring mortals, cold sweat instantly poured down Han Yi's forehead.
"Who was it?"
"Since when?"
Faces flashed through Han Yi's mind one after another.
Every single one seemed thoroughly suspicious, yet none quite fit.
"You young people..." Seeing Han Yi terrified until his face turned ghastly pale, Yufu shook his head repeatedly.
"Traveling out in the world all on your own, you must be cautious in everything. Being watched for so long, haven't all your secrets been laid bare to others?"
"Perhaps the thing you were searching for was stolen long ago." Old Man Yufu wore a look of exasperation, as if lamenting a failure to live up to expectations.
"Though it can't be blamed entirely on you..." Suddenly, Yufu changed the subject.
Frowning slightly, he looked up at the sky.
"The people in this place all have some very bad habits."
Narrowing his eyes, he seemed to recall something, his expression turning solemn.
"Senior, save me!"
Perhaps it was the "kindly" demeanor Yufu displayed, like an old man next door, that eased Han Yi's guard.
Or perhaps he was terrified by the reality that he had been monitored all along without noticing in the least.
His composure thoroughly shattered, Han Yi dropped directly to his knees before Yufu, kowtowing and begging for help.
"Save you?"
For a moment, Yufu did not quite grasp Han Yi's meaning.
"You need not worry. That fellow has already been taught a harsh lesson by me; he won't be able to see you anymore."
Hearing this, Han Yi was instantly overjoyed.
"May I ask Senior, who was the person monitoring me, and what did they look like?"
Yufu looked somewhat troubled. "It was too far, and this old man's eyesight isn't very good, so I couldn't see clearly..."
"No matter! I beg Senior to identify them for me." Clutching at this lifesaving straw, Han Yi felt that if he did not determine who had been monitoring him, he would likely know neither restful sleep nor peaceful meals, unable to cultivate in tranquility ever again.
Thus, using the Water Mirror Technique, he reproduced images of several key suspicious figures he had encountered over the years.
"Senior, is it..."
Just as Han Yi was about to speak, he suddenly sensed a strange tension in the air.
Turning to look, he immediately felt that something was amiss.
As it turned out, in his panic and clouded state of mind, he had actually also depicted the scene of Azure Wind trapping the sword that he had witnessed above the Congyun Sea.
And right now, Old Man Yufu was staring fixedly at that image.
*Oh no! The external characteristics of the anima of Heaven and Earth are so distinctive—did he recognize it?*
Han Yi was seized by a sudden pang of regret.
"Sword..."
Yet what Old Man Yufu cared about was not the anima of Heaven and Earth at all.
"Sword?"
Han Yi's gaze shifted as well, falling upon the broken sword trapped by the azure wind.
"I do not know how long I have been searching, yet even now, I have not found it..."
The words Old Man Yufu had spoken not long ago remained vivid in his memory.
*Could it be...*
A terrifying realization surfaced in Han Yi's mind.
Before he could react, he felt Yufu's cloudy eyes turn toward him.
The next instant, Han Yi felt himself swallowed by complete darkness.
Chapter 594